Alien: Romulus, produced by Ridley Scott, arrives on Peacock as the franchise stalls again

Amid recent reports that Ridley Scott is attempting another revamp of the Alien franchise, the movie he intends to disregard is now streaming on Peacock. Scott, who launched the long-running sci-fi horror series in the 1970s, returned to reboot it in the 2010s. He directed two films — Prometheus and Alien: Covenant — which saw differing degrees of box-office success and drew mostly positive reviews. Fans, however, were divided. The franchise spent years in limbo after Covenant before being rebooted again by director Fede Álvarez. That film counted Scott as a producer and appeared to revitalize the franchise with positive reviews and a healthy box-office haul.

Yet little has moved since its 2024 release. Álvarez said he won't return to direct another installment without explaining why. More recently, it emerged that Scott wasn't a big fan of the film and wants to return to the narrative he developed in Prometheus and Covenant. That would mean erasing Álvarez's movie, which Scott called just "okay." The film featured a cast of up-and-comers including Cailee Spaeny, Archie Renaux, Isabela Merced, and the new Black Panther, David Jonsson.